The greys were busy, too

I didn't mean to imply in my last entry that the greys were perfectly behaved while Beeps and Rocky were on the couch, but at least they weren't bothering Thomas!

Max, who at 7 1/2 is considered sexually mature, rarely shows any indication of any nesting or hormonal behaviors. The one possible exception is that she likes to hang out on the seat of a kitchen chair. It's dark in there, and she likes to try to remove pieces of our table. We don't allow her to stay here long as we don't want to encourage nesting behavior in her (trying to avoid egg laying) and we don't want her destroying the table (I doubt she should be ingesting the treated wood).

When she goes there, we just pull the chair out so that she's no longer in an enclosed, dark space with access to our table.

This happened yesterday, and she was happy to perch on the seat of the chair. And then Stella realized where she was and had to go over. When she realized that she couldn't get to Max from the table, she started eating the tablecloth.

The relationship these two have formed fascinates me. They will frequently engage in flock behaviors, such as flying into the kitchen together, yet I wouldn't say that any sort of friendship has formed. They don't preen each other at all, and when they get too close, they often start stabbing at each other with their beaks. Yet they've picked up each others' words and sounds and will sometimes call back and forth if they're in different rooms.

I can't wait to watch this relationship develop over the next decades. Will they become closer? Might mutual preening ever occur? I guess I'll have to stay tuned!